Dinoflagellates or Hair Algae?

We have had our reef tank for about 11 months now and recently (1.5 months ago) upgraded the light fixture from a 4x 54 watt to a 6x 54watt HO T5 Tek fixture. There was algae before with upgrade but not as much. We do 14 gallon water changes every 2 weeks RODI is always used and the RODI is showing zero TDS. It is a 75 Gallon Reef Ready with a sump and PSK 150 Skimmer. We have 2 hydor powerheads 1400 evo 1050 evo and about 80 lbs of Live Rock.

Nitrate- 0
Nitrite- 0
Phosphate- .25 Maybe zero
Ammonia- 0
Salinity- 1.026
pH- 8.3-8.2

We are unsure what kind of algae it is. We are going to cut back light hour length and feeding. We are looking at getting a new clean up crew but are unsure what algae we are facing and want to get the right kind. Recommendations?

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Unfortunately to me that looks like classic Dinoflagellates.

Approximate 2.5 years ago I had the same looking algae. As the lighting period goes on during the day the stings become longer and they develop bubbles along the strings. Reminded me of a string of Christmas lights.

I fought it for almost 3 months, until I proceeded with a completely blackout and raised my pH.

This is what worked for me.

1. Maintain pH 8.4 if possible 24/7.
2. Stop all water changes.
3. Use a turkey baster to clean off all algae from all surfaces including corals. Once settled clean all mechanical filtration (sponges and floss) do this daily.
4. Most important of all, complete blackout for 4 days. I did not see any adverse reactions to my sps or other corals and the dinoflagellates had already killed off my zoanthids.
5. Slowly increase lighting period after 4 days, should you see any development of the strings, reduce lighting period and resume daily cleaning.

This worked for me, good luck to you and of course researching the topic will greatly assist you.

 

I'm pretty sure that they are Dinoflagellates.

 

I beat it once... And unfortunately it beat me once lol. It's Dino's for sure though.
Best cure for it is kalkwasser. I won't run a tank without it now

 

Thank you for the recommendations and for identifying the algae. Corailline, what are the advantages of stopping the water change? We are due for one this week.

 

I'll take this one if you dont mind Cheryl: a lot of synthetic salts have molybdenum in them and high levels lead to a lot of algae and bacterial growth. IME dinoflagellates feed off of these increased bacterial levels.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/hitting-reset-button-133311.html

 

Thanks Trent!

I did not know the science behind it, only that doing water changes always left me with more Dino.

 

Thank you for the information. We are working on taking care of this now with the instructions you have provided and what other information we have found. Was about to do a water change before posting I am glad I posted.

Would more flow help? Or just focus on light out and raising the pH?

Karma for you guys!

 

I have a ton of flow that did not help.

Changing out Carbon (Chemipure ellite) and Purgien did not help.

The total black out did the most followed by the manual removal. Even if you see it creeping back just be diligent and you will beat it.

 

+1 for what Cheryl and Trent has said, however I went a bit further and did a total blackout for 9 days. I had the tank covered with towels/sheets etc. I too had SPS and large clams and did not see any adverse effects on them.

MOST importantly...........SLOW return to your light schedule. Like said if you do it too quick it will raise its ugly head. One day 1 I just took off the sheets/towels. Day 2, turned on actinic for 2 hours, next day 4 hours and 3rd day turned on MH for under an hour. I just gradually increased the time period over the next 2.5 to 3 weeks. I had it really bad to the point it was killing my corals

other advice....look at your feeding cycle and phosphates. I cut my feeding down in half (if you think you are feedding enough, you are feeding WAYYY too much!) and I had a phosban reactor running. I run carbon and phosban (or combo product like blue life) on all my tanks regardless.

good luck to you........this is a pain to take care but you can do it!